THE WANING HARDWOOD SUPPLY. 



HARDWOOD CUT DECLINING. 



The hardwood lumber cut in 1899, according to the census," was 

 8,634,021 thousand feet ; in 1906 it had fallen to 7,315,491 thousand 

 feet, a decrease of 15.3 per cent. 



This decrease took place during a period when American industries 

 sprang f or-ward at a pace unparalleled ; when there was the strongest 

 demand ever known for every class of structural material; when the 

 output of pig iron increased 15 per cent, that of cement 132.17 per 

 cent, and even that of softwood timber 15.6 per cent. 



That the decrease is due to diminished supply rather than to less- 

 ened demand seems to be proved beyond question. During the same 

 period the wholesale price of various classes of hardwood lumber 

 advanced from 25 to 65 per cent ; every kind of hardwood found in 

 quantity sufficient to make it useful has been put on the market, and 

 hardwood timber is now being cut in every State and every locality 

 where it exists in quantity large enough to be cut with profit. These 

 conditions could not prevail were the decrease in production due to 

 a falling off in demand. 



CONDITION AS SHOWN BY KIND OF TIMBER. 



The most notable shrinkage has been in the leading hardwoods to 

 which the public has been long accustomed. 



" Oak, which in 1899 furnished over half the entire output of hard- 

 wood lumber, fell off 36.5 per cent. Yellow poplar, which in 1899 

 was second among hardwoods in quantity produced, fell off 37.9 per 

 cent. Elm, the great standard in slack cooperage, went down 50.8 

 pel- cent. Cottonwood and ash, largely used in many industries, lost, 

 respectively, 36.4 and 20.3 per cent. 



A complete comparison of output for the fifteen leading hardwoods 

 is given in Table 1. 



a The cut of 1899 was reported in the census of 1900. The reports for the 

 years 1904 and 1905 are available, but are less complete, and are, therefore, not 

 quite comparable with the above figures. In each case the figures for those 

 years fall below those for 1906: Acknowledgment is made to the Bureau of 

 the Census for other figures used in this report 

 - [Cir. 116] 



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